Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-06-03
WONDERFUL ADVENTURE.
BY C. FABE MARTIN.

{Sccae. Depot c.. r. 1. C d. r. R., enter myself
"When does the Council Bluffs Express
leavef" asked of the porter.
Ten thirty. sir"
l look at my watch and find that have
fifteen minutes to while away my time. I
seat myself and watch the crowd pass to
and fro. was on my way west for rest,
recreation, and adventure.
Again look at my watch; it lacks three
minutes Of the time for the train to
start. the ,rainmen are crying Gall Aboard"
but having sleeping berth secured, and
am to be "all aboard" for about five days,
am in no hurry. will wait till the last
minute. look again ct my watch, two
minutes Aeft. 1 settle back in my seat to
enjoy ut least minute and half smoking
tho remains of my cigar.
10 travel for many days through o
strange country with o strange man, who
will only grunt monosyllables, is trial of
faith as we'll as patience. Such had been
my lot. Buckszin Bob, with whom had
only liquoring-up acquaintance, had
promised to show mo a sight that was
caution "a sight that no tenderfoot had
ever heheld, if I would trust myself TO his
guidance. had done so-ridden by his
side for days, camped out with him night
after night; but not single word had
been able to extract from him as to the
nature of the sight, not word beyond the
.gruff monosyllables referred to. Our
course had lain over seemingly bound
less rolling prairie. with clumps of timber,
dotted like islands in the vast oceans of
grass. We had crossed trail of Indians out
upon the war-path. Our horses and our
selves had nearly been swallowed up in
fording mud creek. We had smoked the
pipe of peace with stray friendly Indians,
whose pacific intentions we had strength
ened, or whose greed, peradyenture, we
had stimulated. by presents Of tobacco.
We had seen wolves chase antelopes, and
1eng-legged herons fishing in sulky per-
sistency on the banks of stream, the
name of which Bob would not tell me,
rolling on to join some larger river, but
what could only conjecture. Unwarned
by my companion. I had attempted to
quench my thirst with water from a pool,
which was, in fact, strong solution of
salts, and had suffered inconvenience in
consequence. We had seen buffalo in
mulitudes such as no man could number,
a mighty host of shaggy blackness extend
ing for miles, laundering over the quaking
earth in their resistless gallop. Some we
had shot, and feasted on their humps, and
tongues, and marrow. Elk, too, we had
shot; We had popped away at owls, prairie
dogs, and rattlesnakes. We had traversed
q region Of sandy desolation, in which we
had been almost eaten up by ants, region
of lava and NORWOOD, and dwarf cedars.
We had, by the skin of our teeth, escaped
from huge grizzlies, and the more savage
Apaches. We had passed through coun-
try of snow and pines, towering crags and
'clefts that seemed to go down to the center
of the earth. We had lived on wild roots
and horse. We had fallen in with Indians
who had never before beheld a white mans
face, and shared their mess of beaver and
salmon's eggs. We had eaten to repletion
of grouse and hares when we had starved
for days on rations of dried bear-eaten as
savasea eat, SO that for the next twenty
four hours we lay in state of somnolent
safety.
One night no had special feast of yeni-
sion, grouse. and kind of trout we had
caught in deep brook as cold as ice. We
were campcd in the midst of juniper bushes.
Suddenly, as we lounged smoking by the
fire, Bob became communicative.
"Whisky's good said he, "but should
like dram of gin for a change, darned if I
shouldn't"
He filed a pan with whisky, gathered
som- iuniper-berries and dropped them in.